You deplete me: The cognitive costs of colorblindness on ethnic minorities

This study examined how priming Whites with colorblind or multicultural approaches to diversity prior to an interracial interaction affects ethnic minorities' cognitive functioning. Although ethnic minorities did not explicitly know which prime their White partner received, ethnic minorities pa...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of experimental social psychology 2012-03, Vol.48 (2), p.562-565
Main Authors: Holoien, Deborah Son, Shelton, J. Nicole
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive depletion
Color blindness
Colorblindness
Ethnic minorities
Ideology
Interethnic relations
Interracial interaction
Minority & ethnic groups
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism & pluralism
Social cognition
Social interaction
Social psychology
Whites
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This study examined how priming Whites with colorblind or multicultural approaches to diversity prior to an interracial interaction affects ethnic minorities' cognitive functioning. Although ethnic minorities did not explicitly know which prime their White partner received, ethnic minorities paired with Whites primed with colorblindness (vs. multiculturalism) showed poorer cognitive performance on the Stroop (1935) color-naming task following the interaction. Furthermore, Whites in interracial interactions primed with colorblindness exhibited more behavioral prejudice, which mediated ethnic minorities' decreased cognitive performance. These findings suggest that Whites' exposure to certain ideologies may affect the cognitive performance of the ethnic minorities they encounter.
ISSN:0022-1031
1096-0465
DOI:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.09.010